Help To Jump Over To Imac

[yellowcanary73]

The wife and I are trying to talk ourselves into getting the Imac got re-interested when buying new Iphones.Have only owned Window PC since my wife worked for Apple during the Apple IIe MacIntosh development.
We are looking at two different systems one a Windows PC the other a Imac.
This is what we are looking into.
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac - Home and Student Edition
Part Number: BE032LL/A
Remove $134.95 $134.95
Estimated Ship: Within 24 hours
iPod touch, 8GB Would get $299.00 rebate
Part Number: MA623LL/B
Remove $299.00 $299.00
Estimated Ship: Within 24 hours
iMac, 24-inch, 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Part Number: Z0FF
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1 GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO w/256MB GDDR3
Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + User's Guide
Accessory kit
Remove $1,794.00 $1,794.00
Estimated Ship: 1-3 business days
AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac - Auto-enroll
Part Number: S3134LL/A
Remove $119.00 $119.00
Estimated Ship: Within 24 hours
Cart Subtotal: $2,346.95
Minus -299.00 rebate
Total $2047.95

Dell
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q9450 (12MB Cache,2.66GHz,1333FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium w/ Digital Cable Support SP1 edit
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HDDs) edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable edit
MONITORS 22 inch SP2208WFP Wide Flat Panel with Webcam and Mic edit
VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon HD3870 512MB GDDR4
SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
SPEAKERS Dell AX510 10W Attached Speaker for UltraSharp™ Flat Panel Monitors
KEYBOARD Dell USB Keyboard
MOUSE Dell Optical USB Mouse
BLUETOOTH AND MEDIA READER Dell 19 in 1 Media Reader with Bluetooth
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER Dell Media Card Reader included in Dell Bluetooth Package
MODEM No Modem Requested
My Software & Accessories
ANTI-VIRUS & SECURITY Norton Internet Security 2008, 15-Month
PRODUCTIVITY Microsoft Works 9.0
My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 3Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
Optional Support Services Dimension XPS, Specialized Support
PHOTOS, MUSIC & MORE! No Entertainment software pre-installed
Total $1489.00

We know that Dell service is not that great but service from most manufacturers is not that great any more.After reading forums for the last few months we have noticed that Apples have started to have a lot more quality and service issues which my wife was suprised to hear is the extra $700.00 worth it and do you think Apple will get control of their quality and service issues.
Thanks for comments

 

[NRose8989]

It's always a interesting experience when people make the switch from the PC world to a Mac. Me personally, It was a rough transition to mac. My friend's dad has been praising OS X since the beginning of time and when it was time to buy a new computer, all i got as a ear full of reasons to switch but for some reason i was hesitant because the numbers didn't match up. Obviously as you already pointed out, you can get a Dell machine (or other brand PC) that when looking at the specs, would kick the crap out a comparable mac, and be a couple hundred dollars less.

But in reality and in my opinion, when you make the switch to a mac, you are paying for the experience. Though a PC can do everything a mac can do, it's the little things that make the difference worth it.

Little things like:

-having spell checker in EVERYTHING
-having a dictionary in EVERYTHING (just one keyboard command away)
-the amount of integration between all the apps and the iPhone etc.
-a big one is no background anti-virus running while your trying to do something

I'm sure you have heard all of these features and i could go on and on but no one can really grasp why it's so much better until they take the "plunge" and own a mac. Just going into a apple store and playing with some of the display machines won't really cut either (unless you sit there for hours a day, for a couple of days) it's when you doing something at home when you realize that your never going back to a PC.

EDIT: I actually just read you post with more detail and yes apple service is quite good. A common misconception is that people read these forums and hear about all of the problems with a product. But thats just the nature of the forums is that people come here for help with their problem, when in reality the vast majority have amazing products and are very happy with theirs computers.

just from personal experience, My MBP screen had some discoloration problems with the display. so i called apple and they said i would have send in my computer. I got overnighted a pre-paid box and sent my MBP in for repair. the turn around time for my computer to be fixed was only one business week. So i sent it in on a monday and on friday i got it back. Pretty good service if you ask me.

 

[gehrbox]

We know that Dell service is not that great but service from most manufacturers is not that great any more.After reading forums for the last few months we have noticed that Apples have started to have a lot more quality and service issues which my wife was suprised to hear is the extra $700.00 worth it and do you think Apple will get control of their quality and service issues.

$700 extra is not worth the money if all you want to do is surf the web, send email, do a spread sheet or create a text document. ANY computer can do those tasks.

Apple products have always been about the user experience as was mentioned previously. Mac's seem more stable and multitask better then a more powerful Windows XP or Vista computer. Vista has improved in this respect, but it still lags behind OS X. I had a 2.66Ghz Vista box with Windows Experience rating of 5.4. A pretty good score, but when I bought a new 1.83Ghz Mac Mini and connected it to the same display, keyboard, mouse and speakers via a KVM switch I found I used the Mini more and eventually stopped using the Vista box. I had been running both of them 24/7 and could switch between them whenever I chose. It was amazing to me that the much lower powered OS X computer out performed the new Vista computer in most respects. I had originally bought the Mini just so I could have an Intel mac to play with!

With the flowery stuff said, switching from Windows to OS X is going to have a learning curve. How much of a curve really depends on how much of a power user you are. A neophyte or average user will make the switch much easier. For a power user there are a lot of things that either don't work the same way or don't exist in OS X. I'm not saying the changes are bad, but a power user is used to certain functions, keystrokes and locations of things.

In my opinion Apple service and quality is superior to Dell and HP products. Sure I have had issues, but they were resolved by an english speaking person with minimal fuss.

Unless you need something specific to Office 08, save your money and either get iWork from Apple or download a free copy of NeoOffice.

 

[yellowcanary73]

$700 extra is not worth the money if all you want to do is surf the web, send email, do a spread sheet or create a text document. ANY computer can do those tasks.

Apple products have always been about the user experience as was mentioned previously. Mac's seem more stable and multitask better then a more powerful Windows XP or Vista computer. Vista has improved in this respect, but it still lags behind OS X. I had a 2.66Ghz Vista box with Windows Experience rating of 5.4. A pretty good score, but when I bought a new 1.83Ghz Mac Mini and connected it to the same display, keyboard, mouse and speakers via a KVM switch I found I used the Mini more and eventually stopped using the Vista box. I had been running both of them 24/7 and could switch between them whenever I chose. It was amazing to me that the much lower powered OS X computer out performed the new Vista computer in most respects. I had originally bought the Mini just so I could have an Intel mac to play with!

With the flowery stuff said, switching from Windows to OS X is going to have a learning curve. How much of a curve really depends on how much of a power user you are. A neophyte or average user will make the switch much easier. For a power user there are a lot of things that either don't work the same way or don't exist in OS X. I'm not saying the changes are bad, but a power user is used to certain functions, keystrokes and locations of things.

In my opinion Apple service and quality is superior to Dell and HP products. Sure I have had issues, but they were resolved by an english speaking person with minimal fuss.

Unless you need something specific to Office 08, save your money and either get iWork from Apple or download a free copy of NeoOffice.

Our desktop a HP AMD 3500 Athlon is about 4 years old now running XP I thought they had gotten very stable also have a Acer with Vista ultimate do not like it at all and not sure of the direction Microsoft is headed.My wife has gone back to college they use all Apple computers but she is use to Microsoft Office and probably has another 3 years to go.My daughter is in college also and says when she changes laptops she's going to apple.We probably don't need the Imac but after getting the new Iphones got the bug and we need to keep the economy going.
Thank you all for the imput.

 

[Muncher]

Unless you need something specific to Office 08, save your money and either get iWork from Apple or download a free copy of NeoOffice.

MS Office = better quality, font menu with previews, and generally a very easy product to use.

NeoOffice = same features as MS Office, bit higher learning curve, some glitches.

I've used both recently; MS Office for the mac is great, but NeoOffice works almost exactly as promised with plenty of power. Besides, there's no reason you can't try out NeoOffice before you buy a copy of MS Office.

 

[rfruth]

Keep the economy going (US and others) buy a Mac !